What does it mean to "take up our cross?"

When he described this choice, Jesus had a decision that only he recognized.  On one hand was a path that other people wanted for him, to make him king of the Israelites.  They could have deposed Herod, put Jesus in the place David once held, therein fulfilling their limited, social understanding of who their Messiah would be.

Or as Jesus knew, he could give himself over to the people in a different way, to torture and death, sacrificed because humanity is too broken and sinful to honor goodness and truth when it stands in our midst.

Only Jesus knew that through death on the cross, he would become the ultimate King of all nations, the Savior and the mighty Lamb.  Only Jesus valued that path more than becoming the king of a small, impoverished nation, fully under Roman occupation.   See almost ever time, we humans will choose a lesser victory rather than the challenge and pain of acquiring God's purpose for our lives.  Let me reiterate that - EVERYONE else wanted Jesus to aspire to being king of the Jewish nation at that time... not King of kings for all time.

Only Jesus pursued his calling, his purpose from God.  No one else understood. 

And only Jesus had to literally carry the cross to become Savior of the universe.  For the rest of us our cross is not literal, but a description of our burden, our pain, that stands between us now, and the life God calls us towards.  

The choice is always ours.  We can live a lesser path.  We can become kings of our own broken country.  Or we can pursue God's will alone, and live the triumph only He knows is ours to claim.  

It won't be easy.  
We will have to let go of our false hopes.  
We will have to deal in truth.  
It will likely hurt sometimes.  
It will take great courage.  
It will require trust in God - the One who sees what we cannot yet see.

Yet it will be greater than any other possibility for our lives.

"Take up your cross, and follow Him."

In Christ!
 
-M4

You will find VERY few posts on here regarding parenting advice.  Frankly, regardless of the number of initials behind your name, you don't know how it has all gone until your child is somewhere around 35 years old.  Only then can an honest assessment be made.  

BUT here is a one tidbit of cautionary advice: there is a difference between 'sheltering' and 'constraining'.  

See this God of ours made us free.  Freedom is something we must contend with as humans, as individuals, and as parents.  Our children are about to live totally free.  We have a few years to prepare them to contend with that reality.  

I see a lot of kids the same age as my son who have fewer privileges, less access to the things associated with modern life (the internet, etc) and more fear-based parental presence.

We often use the word 'sheltered' to describe these kids, but that is not the right description.  Shelter is a beautiful concept, Biblically.  God uses it 

 I stopped watching the news years ago; too many negative stories and too many foolish commentators.  I always wondered why news organizations did not deliver what people said they wanted, positive stories about people doing positive things.  While the world is obviously full of violence and horror, it is also full of goodness and regular blessings.  Each day people do far more good than evil but the headlines do not reflect that truth. 

            I have come to see why news outlets carry the sensational over the sentimental: that is what people want.  Are people more likely to rubber neck in traffic at a terrible accident or a kid’s lemonade stand?  Will we listen to the latest story on violence in Chicago or the latest work of the local Cub Scout Troop?  There are exceptions to this rule of course, but people like you and me, are the reason the news is what it is. 

            No local topic has generated as much friction as the change of leadership in the Oswego 308 School District.  I love living in Oswego and pray for our school district daily.  Public school leadership can literally be a thankless job.  Yet 308 seems to have wrestled with many issues publicly regarding staff, buildings, and funding. 

            So to go against the tide, I wanted to share some good news.  I wanted to highlight our experience with Oswego 308 where the folks can’t be thanked enough, commended enough, and written about warmly enough.  While our schools have problems, they also have amazing people who teach, clean, service, lead and listen, and I want to take this opportunity to share our experience.   

              Our new church, Big Life Community Church, meets at Oswego East High School.  Ken Lesley is a building manager at Oswego East.   From the moment we approached the school about leasing space, and met with Ken to talk it over, Ken has been a pillar of graciousness and intentional service.  He and his staff see that the entire experience is arranged beautifully and with care.  They love doing their job and have helped our new church above and beyond all the way.

In most social settings it will eventually come out: I am a minister.  And that makes people do the weirdest things.  Some hide their beer as though I had not been holding one myself.  Most replay the entire conversation quickly in their heads to remember how many times they cursed.  More often than not people will fumble out a statement that goes something like this, "Wow, I could never do that.  I could never lead a church.”

     I often remind folks of two things: first, there is nothing special about me, no holy water I drink each morning, no halo around my head.  I am just a man, a guy, a bit of a nerd, a football fan, who leads because I have been asked to lead by God.  And second, what I have learned is this: God is asking each of you to lead in some capacity, too.   

     God defines leadership as servanthood in this world.  And God asks each of us to love each other to the point of serving.  And that means you.  Yes, I spent eight years acquiring a college and graduate degree in theology and saturating myself with biblical study at the highest academic level.   Yes, I have seventeen years of experience in church leadership on my resume.  But what this experience and study has really led me to is a clear, faithful, Jesus-modeled landing spot on who 'leads'.  God only wants leaders who serve.  And God wants servants who give their best.  Beyond that, just as Jesus demonstrated in His ministry, there aren't really any barriers!  Women can serve and men can serve and therefor lead.  God needs young people who can lead and wise elders who can lead.  The church needs single people who can lead and married people who can lead.  And God even needs divorced and remarried people like myself to model servant leadership.

     As the church in America continues to shrink, we have seen, and I fear we will continue to see, a closing of the theological mind.   And if the church fails to serve with the best of the human mind and the human heart's capacity, as God created us to lead, as God commanded in the first Commandment, we, the church, fail.  If we, the church, tell 50% of our community that even though they run a business, or manage in company 6 days out of the week, they may not have a leadership or teaching title on Sundays because of her gender, we fail.  If we tell the 50% of our community that is divorced or remarried that we, the church, will forever define you and condemn you by your past, unlike our leader Jesus modeled, we fail.  And if the mission of God is sidelined by the failure of the church to lead, the blessing of God sorely needed by so many will be missed.

     Even as we have a leadership crisis in our culture I am hopeful for the future of God’s church.  God has a way of getting done what God wants done.  In surprising and unexpected ways, through mangers, crosses, and empty tombs, God will get done what He wants to get done, to shatter the darkness of earth with Love.  Let us move past the legalisms of the past that have and continue to shrink the church in America and move into God’s future where servant leaders lead and the mission of God trumps all.